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Although maternal deaths have been the traditional indicator of maternal health, these events are the &quot;tip of the iceberg&quot; in that there are many women who have significant complications of pregnancy, labor, and delivery. Identifying women who experience severe maternal morbidity and reviewing their care can provide critical information to inform quality improvement in obstetrics. In this commentary, we review methods to identify women who experienced severe complications of pregnancy. We propose a simple validated approach based on transfusion of four or more units of blood products, admission to an intensive care unit, or both as a starting point for identification and review of severe maternal morbidity in health care settings for the purpose of understanding successes and failures in systems of care.

Severe maternal morbidity and mortality have been rising in the United States. To begin a national effort to reduce morbidity, a specific call to identify all pregnant and postpartum women experiencing admission to an intensive care unit or receipt o...

"Maternal Health Epidemiology is designed for public health professionals who want to apply epidemiologic methods to the area of maternal health. The document covers basic definitions and measures used in maternal health epidemiology, methods for det...

Approximately 700 women across the United States (U.S.) die each year as a result of pregnancy or pregnancy-related complications. Non-Hispanic black women experience maternal deaths at a rate three to four times that of non-Hispanic white women, a r...

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.). Office of the Associate Director for Communication.

Published:

November 14, 2017

Series:

Public Health grand rounds ; 2017 October 17

Description:

Tuesday, November 14, 2017 at 1:00 p.m. (ET) : Women in the United States are more likely to die from childbirth or pregnancy-related causes than other women in high-income countries. More evidence is needed to understand the actual causes of death b...